Thread: size limits

Another reason you see a 9 inch length limit more often as you move north in MO is the length of the growing season. We had placed a 10 inch limit on Smithville back in the mid 80's after the crappie fishery was severely overharvested after the lake opened. New lakes are very productive and we had a lot of big crappie when the lake opened and it got hammered. After evaluating the 10 inch limit and the slower growth of crappie when compared with southern reservoirs we reduced the length limit to 9 inches. This has proven the right length limit at Smithville. Truman is located right on the edge of the transition from a southern to a northern reservoir. While a 10 inch might be ok, Truman also has much greater lake level fluctuations and that can cause big year classes and small year classes from time to time. These swings in year class strength reduce the likelihood of stunting. Length limits serve to smooth out the affects of year class strength too. This helps keep from having poor fishing 3-4 years following a poor year class. Truman is probably the best reservoir crappie fishing in the state year to year. I guess my point is if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

MO,

Is this is reasoning (north/south) as to why there isn't a length limit at all on Mark Twain. This is my home lake and it KILLS me to see people keeping the 7-8" fish and then complain about not having the size? I'm not suggesting a 10" limit because the majority of people would fail to fill their limit, but I think a 9" limit would be reasonable. I assure you that there are plenty of bigger fish in this lake........

This discussion has been beat to death I know, specifically regarding Twain, but I don't see much of a difference in the two lakes (Truman v. Twain) outside of geography....referring to the point they are Corp. lakes and the management of these lakes should mirror itself being in the same state.

U

I don't fish that often for my freezer. I would always rather catch one 12 inch fish over six 9 inch fish and I believe a 10 inch limit would improve the quality of fish being caught. Just my 2 cents.......and that's prolly worth about 1/4 cent in this economy.

I would like to see the length limit grow over the next few years if the cllimate and fish are able to handle larger length limit. look at the mississippi lakes and how many people travel there just to catch bigger fish. we put a point restriction on deer and for what reason, (bigger is better). The revenue created state wide from travel expences to out of state license to hotel stays would be great plus the chance to catch a wall hanger would be awsome benefits!! The key factor is will our climate sustain a larger fish growth season to handle an average fish of 10",11", or possibly 12".

There could be a split limit like some lakes have 5 over11" and 10 fish between 9" & 10" that might keep the issue of stunting the fish.

The major difference between here and Mississippi is the length of their growing season. The fish there grow most of the year. Our growing season is 7-8 months in north MO.

Most crappie fisheries are harvest oriented. Most anglers, but obviously not all, want to catch crappie to eat. So we try to set minimum length limits to obtain a good balance between fish quality (size) and yield (pounds available for harvest). Based on research in MO and across the country, we know that this balance is typically achieved by setting the length limit close to the average size the crappie attain after three years. So in our southern lakes where fish grow faster, a 10-inch length limit is best. In lakes where crappie grow well, but not as fast, like Truman, a 9-inch length limit is best. But in lakes where fish typically grow slow, like Mark Twain, it is best not to have a length limit at all. Mark Twain crappie, on average across many years, only reach 8 inches after three years. Crappie don't live too long, so protecting slow growing crappie with a length limit could drastically reduce yield while producing only small improvements in size. Mark Twain crappie do grow well in some years and crappie fishing is almost always very good the year after these good growth years. Also, Mark Twain often produces a lot of young crappie, so harvesting small fish is not necessarily bad. In fact, in some years I encourage it.

Ross,

Interesting comments concerning Twain, thanks for that. Curious, what is your opinion as to why the crappie in Twain are slower to grow? Size of the lake? Geography? Food sources? I've fished it long enought to go through the cyclical years and like you said, you can almost put it on a calendar when you'll have the good years versus bad. Interesting to note that after the flood year (08) the fishing in 2009 - 2011 was dynamite which I felt was directly attributable to the high water, low pressure years of 2008 and 2009....but now it seems as though it might be declining again in terms of average size of fish.

U